PNEUMA PYTHONOS - Compare this story-the demonized episode-with what we read
about Jesus’ exorcist ministry in the gospels. This is an unusual case. For one
thing, the spirit is not said to be evil, and for another, there is no dialogue with the
spirit; we see no thrashing around as the evil presence leaves the human being, and we
have no astonished onlookers, nor does it lead to the spread of the gospel (Luke 4:31-37).
What we do have is-at least in part-a story about exploitation of a young girl. Her spirit
of divination is pneuma pythonos: "the spirit of the python" and refers to the
python that both guarded the oracle at Delphi and was killed by Apollo.
WHAT DO I DO TO GET SAVED? - That’s what the Philippian jailor wanted from Paul
and Silas. What a great drama! Our two missionaries turn their jailhouse blues into a hymn
sing! They are incorrigible, contagious Christians! But isn’t that the point? As the
NIB says, " . . . conversions are the by-product of the trenchant faithfulness of
others, when believers are ever alert to the need and prospect of salvation." [1]
What a wild narrative! A
demon-possessed person who functions as Paul’s MC, an exorcism followed by a mob
attack and flogging, a hymn sing in the jailhouse, an earthquake, one derelict sheriff,
and the beginning of a new Christian community-all in the same story!
To engage this dramatic story that Luke includes in Paul’s missionary journeys,
you may want to try your hand at retelling the story. You might change the setting from
ancient to modern or change the perspective from third person to first person singular by
becoming the narrator of the story.
You might also try to retell the story from the slave girl’s perspective. How
would you have perceived Paul’s actions-your loss of status as a fortune-teller, your
value as a means to economic gain for your owner, the new, but uncertain future ahead of
you? What would you have done next once this exorcism had claimed your special powers? How
might this intervention have been a relief? An interruption? An aggravation?
What about the jailer-how would he retell the story? What risk does his decision to
become a Christian contain? How will his life change after this event? How could his views
of the Roman penal system change? Will he continue in his job in a gentler sort of way or
will he leave his profession behind as being incompatible with his new formulated faith?
What about Silas? What if Silas reminisced about this episode twenty years later? What
would be his perspective of this wild night in the jailhouse? The missionary tour
hadn’t gone exactly like a Caribbean cruise on the Queen Elizabeth II for Silas. They
had had a series of false starts and through a dream had decided to come to Philippi. Now
it was the horrid floggings, the stench in the hole of a Roman jail. Silas could have had
a lot of reasons for going back home.
As a kid what heinous deed got you
into trouble with your parents? ___tipping cows under cover of darkness ___burbing at the
table ___repainting your dad’s car to canary yellow ___reading your Bible too much
___other.